I think that one of the fundamental reasons why Twitter works is because it is so simple, as Kevin stated above. TwitterGroups, TwitterApps, TwitterMeetings, TwitterWhatever. At some point, Twitter can lose it’s identity. Can someone explain what myspace or facebook are in simple and concrete terms. Are they simply social networking apps? Has the meaning of social networking evolved? How many people do you hear say that they don’t use facebook anymore? Why is that? I propose that it is because no one can figure out what it is or does now.

I hope the keepers of Twitter are content with letting Twitter be Twitter.

The proliferation of microblogging and lifestreaming tools over the past year has largely been a response to what is missing on Twitter. However, I contend that one of the reasons Twitter is successful is its simplicity. It does not try to do to much or impose too many constraints. The nature of the beast would change considerably and possibly for the worse if we also had to manage groups.

A more useful upgrade, in my opinion, would be a better way to search and process other members. It is not easy to tell which of your followed authors are also following you, or even to just search for a specific user within your own follow net.

Some people I know have created multiple Twitter accounts to follow different kinds of groups (school vs. friends vs. professional, etc). For me, that would add a level of complexity and identity juggling that makes the service less appealing. I like the fact that I can just be me, and whoever wants to see that can.